My daughter will turn 2 on December 17th. It totally sucks that it is in the winter and I could use some ideas on what we can do that will not cost us a bazillion bucks!

We have a fairly small house and last year it was waaaaay to crowded. I have the Christmas tree up and presents everywhere and then for her 1st birhtday we just had everyone over here. BAD IDEA! It was too crowded & pretty unconfortable.

I have called around to check on renting a place, but the costs JUST FOR THAT is around $100.

As most of you know.....having it at one the grandparents house is totally out of the question. & For those of you who are not aware....lets just say they ALL have a drinking problem!

I have talked to a good friend of mione and she said that we can have it at her house which was wonderful of her to offer & I think I might take her up on that.

I was thinking of buying t-shirts for all of the kids and letting them finger paint on them. The downside to that is we would have to set up tables and chairs in her garage to avoid a huge mess in the house. The problem is that we live in Oklahoma and the weather is very unpredictable. We could have 3 inches of snow and freezing outside, or it could be a beutifull sun shiney day.

I would love to hear some other ideas of things we could do if it turns out to be too cold to be in the garage. We do have a portable heater that we could set up if we had to. But I would rather not have all the kids out there if it is going to be cold and nasty!

Thanks for any and all help you guys could offer.

Kim

PS......we already know that the theme HAS TO BE melmo....(Elmo )

__________________
......and that's all I have to say about that.......

We have Melmo here also. Let's not even talk about today's weather. I stood outside to vote and froze my buns off... Well, no, they are still there but it was darn cold!!!LOL Weather here is unpredictable at best.

I don't know how close you are to OKC but there are a few places here you could go. There is an art place up by Quail Springs Mall where you have parties and make projects. What about your local community center? They usually have extra rooms. You could have it at a resteraunt.

Having it in the garage would totally depend on how you keep your garage. Mine is a death trap so I wouldn't dream of a party there. If you can have it in there, then there are plenty of party stores to make it look nice. The only problem with that is that you might end up spending a lot of money just like you would with renting a place. I don't know if I have helped at all but Happy Birthday to your little one

Your tellin' me about freezing! I ended up having to go to 3 different places to vote dragging Riley & the stroller in & out of the car in this horrible wind! I finally got smart and called the electio board to find out where they had me!

My friends garage is imaculate. Just like everything in her house. So that would be ok.

We live in Newcastle and there just is not much to choose from out here. I have thought about doing it at Johnnie's because they do not charge you for using their big room if you eat there. The thing about that is that we would be really limited on something fun for the kids to do. I would like to get away with cheap birthday parties for as long as possible. Especially since it is RIGHT before Christmas.

Do you know the name of the art place up bt the mall that you mentioned? I am not even sure if we are supposed to mention names of places on here or not. But if we can that would be worth checking into. I am up for anything that is fun and cheap! (is that even possible?)

Thanks!

Stay warm!

Kim

__________________
......and that's all I have to say about that.......

ksavage,
I also live in OK City and went to a B-Day party the other day at a place in the mall where the kids got to paint pottery. I think it was called paint it yourself pottery or something like that. Each kid got to pick out one small piece and paint it and then in a week the b-day mom went and picked them all up after they had gone through the kiln and delivered them all to the kids. The problem was it was, I'm sure, expensive. Each piece of pottery cost $12 plus the cake and gift baggies, had to be at least $200.

Have you thought about having a party at Chucky cheeses or something like that. It is not too expensive, maybe $100. There are places for the kids to play, you get tokens with a party for each kid and the parents supply them if they want more. The only thing is they only provide a cake for the birthday kid and it is really small, so we brought our own which we bought at Sam's club for like $14 for a huge cake.

Another idea is, if you are on a tight budget and go to church, ask them if you can do it there at the church. Maybe ask everyone to have a pot luck and bring something and then you would only have to buy the cake and ice cream.

I actually go to a place at 122 & Rockwell called Clay Doodles and I talked to them about a party and the owner said the the age of 5 is actually the best time to start having parties there. That was a great idea though.

I did think about the Chuckie Cheese thing and I am trying to not have to spend a lot of money and a friend of mine had her sons party there with 7 kids and it cost around $125 I think she said. I about fell over! It would not be such a big deal if it was not RIGHT before Christmas. I have tried saving money just for her birthday party, but we had to put new tires on my Tahoe and that cost us over $600. So that blew that idea.

I think I am just going to stick with having it at my girlfriends house for this year. I would love some game ideas and such though. That would be great.

What do you guys think of moving her birthday party to July 17th instead of Dec 17th? My husband thought it would be fine. As his is on Dec 24th. But everyone I mentioned that to said that they thought it was stupid and her birthday is her birthday & I should leave it alone. SO I DON'T KNOW!

Thanks again!
Kim

__________________
......and that's all I have to say about that.......

I know it sounds silly.....but a candy hunt or piniata. I never can afford the piniata, but many times I will fill 200+/- ziplock baggies of candy. If the weather is nice, hide them outside. If the weather is crappy, hide them inside. One year we even did the ever fun candy dive. Emptied all the candy into a big bucket, then tossed it into the air and watched the kids scramble. If its nice outside- cook up a bunch of cheap noodles and have a food fight-kids will love that! I'll try to come up with some better age related stuff and post back later-right now I better go.....kids are having a water spitting contest....in the house!

Whoops... Haven't been here in days. Sorry. I haven't been able to find the name of the place but I know it's on Memorial and Penn. We are in Yukon so I don't get out that way much. The bad thing about things like that is that you have an initial cost but then other things just add to it. A friend of mine had her daughters party at Build a Bear in Penn Square Mall. They bought the bears and that was pretty cheap but then you had to buy clothes and all of the accessories....It got too expensive for my taste.

You know, you can do whatever at her age. You can have it in the summer of have it in the garage. This is a beautiful age where there are no expectations. Soon enough, they want friends over and it becomes a huge deal. You can also make it a short party like maybe an hour instead of a typical two hour party. That way you don't have to entertain for as long and come up with as many ideas

OK...I am going to start a list on here just so I can keep in mind all of the ideas I get & then decide from there.

We have to do the Elmo theme for her party, but I was at walmart today and they had the cutest Nemo piniata! I need to ask the manager where they order them from and see if I can get an Elmo. That is a really good idea!

My idea list:

Finger painting on T-shirts
Piniata
Candy hunt
Build a bear

Thanks for the great ideas so far!

Kim

__________________
......and that's all I have to say about that.......

Hi, my birthday is also December 17th, I know its really hard to throw a party in the winter, I know a few times we had it at mcdonalds and a few times it was at a skating rink, if you go during the day its cheeper. Also I remember it being at my house also and we would just play games like pin the tail on the donkey and musical chairs, or if it wasen't to bad (I live in massachusetts) scavenger hunts outside. Good luck!!

Ksavage,
Do you have a party city where you live at? You could most likely get an Elmo pinata from there. I can probably give you some ideas that are cheap if you want but first of all I wanted to know how many kids will be there and their age ranges. Also how many adults will be there? OK a few part games would be instead of pin the tail on the donkey you could do Pin the Nose on Elmo. You can also go to Wal-Mart, Dollar Tree, or a party supply store and buy some cheap party favors. You don't have to have all Elmo as long as they match. We bought my daugter a table cloth that was pink and did her cake, plates, and cups in Disney Princess last year. And for the adults we just bought plain colored plates for them. Also I know kids that age love balloons. You could do a balloon drop if you have it in your friends basement.. Take a cheap net from the dollar store and fill it up with balloons. Then when your done singing happy birthday you can drop the balloons and see the excitement on their faces. Also since your daughter is little instead of doing musical chairs do musical squares. All you have to do is tape squares onto the floor and put numbers in them. When you stop the music you draw a number out of the hat. The kid whos on that number get a prize out of a little box. You can put things like fruit roll ups in there (considered big prizes) and dum-dum suckers, tootsie rolls, or hershey kisses for small prizes and they could pick 2. Just a couple of ideas I'm sure I have more. My kids have always had home parties. It doesn't bother them because they know that the less I spend on a party the more I can spend on their gifts. Well I hope I've helped a little. Like I said I'm sure I have more ideas. Also maybe instead of painting t-shirts (which can get really expensive) you could make or buy some plain sugar cookies. Then you buy white icing and change the color with food coloring. Give each kid their own little paint brush (you can buy a pack of 10 brushes for $1.00) from the dollar tree. You take plain little plates and let them paint their cookies with frosting. Little sprinkles and mini m&m's make them look cut too. As far as invetations for her birthday party you could get construction paper, buy some craft paint and paint her little hand and stick it to the paper. Then you fill it in. I love when my kids come home with thing and their hand prints. Then you get to see how big they get each year. OK Well I hope eveything goes well for you.

Hi, I know how you feel with winter parties. My son has a winter bday also. You never know what the weather is goin to be. I have a rather large house, but kind of small rooms to small to fit all the family in. So I rent a local Grange Hall. I don't know if you have them in your area or not. Around here they don't cost to much. If you know someone thats a member of one its usually just a donation. I'm also planning my sons bday as I type. I got several cute game ideas off that site. Wishing you luck with your babys bday party.

Last edited by Modinatrix21; 11-10-2004 at 06:58 AM.
Reason: Read posting rules,websites are not allowed.

I won! I won! It must have been me that won.....I was the only one dry, and that didn't have to get a towel and clean the mess. Isn't that considered the winner? "Losers" clean up? Those silly kids. They keep me going!

I have finally decided what i am going to do. Everyone keeps telling me that I am being silly by doing this, but I talked to a couple of other parents from the hospital & they have December birthdays as well..........

I AM MOVING HER PARTY DATE!

We will have a family party on her actual birthday and then we will celebrate with a kids party on June 17th. A few of the kids that I talked to said thaey loved it that way. The oldest was 13 and she would not want her birthday party right at christmas and they allways have fun outside parties for her in the summer. So....from getting a childs perspective really helped me decide to actually go for it.

I have printed out all of the great ideas that you all have given to me and will save them for this summer. They are really great ones too. Thanks soooo much!

The ages that will be attending will be from 2 - 7 and there will be at least 8 kids there. As well as the adults and that will be about 14.

Keep the great ideas coming.

I need to go lay down for a while....had minor surgery today & I feel really crummy!

Kim

__________________
......and that's all I have to say about that.......